Friday, August 15, 2008

I read this story under yahoo news, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it! I don't think I would be comfortable allowing my children to be in a classroom with an adult who is carrying a gun. For SEVERAL reasons:

1.) What happens if that teacher is an idiot and leaves it where a child can get to it?

2.) What happens if a teacher goes postal? Hey, it's happened in other professions.

3.) What happens if that teacher forgets to turn the safety on? I'm sure your imagination can supply plenty of outcomes from that.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States.

The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt.School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom.Thweatt said it is a matter of safety."We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense."Teachers who wish to bring guns will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials, he said.Recent school shootings in the United States have prompted some calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms.The U.S. Congress once barred guns at schools nationwide, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck the law down, although state and local communities could adopt their own laws. Texas bars guns at schools without the school's permission.